WATER VOWS AND PUNJAB

A 20 metre-fall in central Punjab’s water table in the past decade is alarming, to say the least. A study by the state’s Agriculture Department has revealed shocking details about the ground reality in the districts of Sangrur, Barnala and Moga. The situation may not be much different in other districts barring those areas where waterlogging is a problem. What is worrying is that even when there is heavy rain — as it happened during the monsoon last year — the water table continues to decline. The data taken in October 2010 shows there was no improvement in the post-monsoon groundwater situation. This means rainwater simply goes waste as village ponds have been levelled or encroached upon.

The reason for the declining water table is well known. It is excessive paddy cultivation. Since paddy still gives the highest and assured returns to farmers, thanks to an almost yearly increase in the minimum support prices by the Centre, there is no attempt to shift to other kharif crops. The area under hybrid maize, for instance, has not increased. Though the Centre talks of extending the Green Revolution to the eastern states, it has now started encouraging the production of oilseeds and pulses in Punjab and Haryana by offering better support prices since the country relies heavily on costly imports.
However, it is Punjab’s political leadership that not only ignores the state’s long-term interests but also works at cross-purposes. On the one hand, the government departments make efforts – even if half-hearted — to promote crop diversification, on the other state politicians press for higher paddy prices/bonuses every year to cash in on farmers’ votes. The misdirected subsidy of free power also leads farmers to over-exploit groundwater. The canal water supply meets just one-fourth of the requirement for paddy. The canals and rivers lose water heavily for want of repairs and cleanup. The state leadership is yet to wake up to the need for rainwater harvesting, which ultimately has to be adopted on a mass scale to rejuvenate Punjab’s depleting water resources. 

EDUCATION REPORT 2010

n the largest household survey of the status of education in India, Punjab has emerged as the only state to post consistent improvements over the past three years in learning outcomes and arithmetical abilities of children aged 6 to 14 attending government schools in rural areas.
It has also scripted history by being the sole state where mathematical skills of schoolchildren improved in 2010 as compared to 2009 when nationally there has been a decline in the children’s ability to recognise numbers, divide or subtract.
Made public today by Vice-President Hamid Ansari, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2010 brought out by community-based organisation Pratham shows that the proportion of Class I children who can recognise numbers 1 to 9 dropped from 69.3 per cent in 2009 to 65.8 per cent in 2010. Similarly, the percentage of Class III children who can do two-digit subtractions has reduced over the same period from 39 to 36.5 and that of Class V students who can do divisions has declined from 38 to 35.9 per cent. But Punjab stands out as an exception with its children improving their math abilities over 2009. In 2010, 70.4 per cent of Punjab’s Class II children could recognise numbers up to 100 - the double of 2008 when the percentage was just 56.3 per cent; it was 59.6 in 2009.
Similarly, the proportion of Punjab’s Class IV children who can do subtractions has risen from 66.9 in 2008 and 71 per cent in 2009 to 81.4 in 2010. The percentage of Class V children who can do divisions has also improved significantly from just 43.5 in 2008 and 48 per cent in 2009 to 69.8 in 2010. Even on children’s reading abilities, nationally, there has been no improvement over the last six years since Pratham began surveying schools. The percentage of Class V children across India who can’t read Class II text was stagnant at 50 per cent in 2010. But Punjab has managed gains here: 73.8 per cent of its Class III-IV children can read Class I text while nationally this percentage is just 64.

State Shining

• Punjab has entered the league of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the traditional high-performing states so far as quality of school education goes
• Apart from math, language abilities of children have improved remarkably
• Experts attribute it to “Parrho Punjab” scheme where children with similar competencies are grouped together and taught through simple activities

Punjab Governance Reforms Commission

The Punjab Government has extended the term of the Punjab Governance Reforms Commission by one year, as its term had expired on January 8.
In the past two years, the commission has submitted three reports for improving the functioning of various departments and governance.
The chairperson of the commission, Dr Parmod Kumar, told TNS that the commission would soon submit three more reports that would cover reforms in the labour and economic fields.
The prime objective of the commission is to recommend ways to streamline the functioning of public dealing by suggesting ways and to reduce procedure and minimise physical interaction between people and government departments that ensure citizen-friendly services.
The commission has also been assigned the task of suggesting ways to check drug addiction and caste-based social assertion.
After commenting on the state of affairs in Punjab in its first report, the commission deliberated on fiscal management, citizen services, social security schemes, police station reforms and institutional framework for the delivery of services in its second report.
In the third report, which had been recently submitted, the commission has provided a framework for citizens’ interaction with the government.
Parmod Kumar said the commission was ready with more reports that would deal with the issue of reforms in areas of urban development, physical security, safety and justice, social security and welfare schemes.
The recommendations of the commission had been well-received by the state government. To ensure accountability, the state government has indicated bringing in of a legislation ensuring 50 services to “aam admi” as a right. These services area spread over the Departments of Revenue, Electricity, Police, Food and Civil Supplies, Health, Transport, etc.
The commission has already recommended several improvements in the healthcare sector. It has also recommended that private healthcare be brought under the government’s control.
Another crucial recommendation of the commission under the consideration of the government is to formulate a Food Regulation Act and the setting up of a state-level advisory committee to end confusion over the jurisdiction of the Health Department and the municipalities to inspect the quality of food.
The government has also accepted the recommendations of the commission to set up a wide network of community-policing centres

Private Health Regulation Bill

Punjab is set to monitor the functioning of private medical establishments more effectively by bringing in legislation, which will require private players to not only maintain clinical records and supply these to patients but also make and enforce a schedule of charges for all kinds of treatment.
The legislation, which will be called the Private Health Regulation Bill, aims to create a regulatory act which, while protecting the interests of patients, will put an end to unscrupulous activities by medical establishments.
While a cabinet subcommittee is still to decide on whether to follow the central act in this regard or make an act according to the needs of the state, Punjab Governance Reforms Commission Chairman Pramod Kumar told TNS that the commission was in favour of the state having its own act. He said the commission had proposed the Private Health Regulation Bill, which was at present was under consideration of the Health Department.
Meanwhile, as a first step, the proposed bill calls for the registration of all private medical establishments with the Deputy Commissioner in each district. The DC will act as the chairman of the proposed registering authority, which will also have the district health and family welfare officer and an office-bearer of the Indian Medical Association as its members.
The regulatory mechanism calls for making it mandatory for each private establishment to submit a schedule of charges for different kinds of treatment and services to the registering authority. These will also have to be displayed on the notice boards of the establishments. The private players will not be allowed to collect any money in excess of the charges displayed by them and will have to issue a proper receipt for the same.
The proposed bill will allow patients as well as the registering authority to have access to the clinical records. While patients or members of their families will be entitled to a copy of the clinical records, the same will also be made available to the district civil surgeon or any other officer empowered by him.
In a bid to do away with private practice by government doctors and make them accountable for the same, it will now be the duty of the private establishments to submit a list of government doctors and paramedical staff whose services are used by them. These services could be in the form of consultation or any other basis, including free of cost.
The steps, once in place, are expected to rationalise the fee of private medical establishments. Dr Pramod Kumar says Punjab continues to remain a state where in comparison to the national average, the share of people citing financial reasons for non-treatment is fairly high. He said untreated morbidity in the rural areas in the state was higher than in the urban areas, indicating a lack of access to health services.

PUNJAB GOVT. DEVELOPMENT INTIATIVES

The SAD-BJP government has drawn a blue print for ensuring overall development and welfare of all sections of society. Power, infrastructure, civil aviation, education, skill development, medical education and health care, governance reforms and welfare of the under-privileged sections of society are on the top of the government’s agenda. The year 2011 will be significant as it will herald the fructification of landmark projects, thereby putting Punjab on a higher growth trajectory.
On the power front, our government has focussed its attention on making Punjab a power surplus state by generating additional capacity of 9494 MWs. To fulfill this commitment, work has already commenced at the thermal plants near Talwandi Sabo (2640 MW), Goindwal Sahib (540 MW) and Rajpura (2100 MW). An MoU and a power purchase agreement for the thermal plant at Gidderbaha (2640 MW) has been signed with NTPC for execution as a regional power station.
Education has always been close to my heart, and I am glad to say that in this sphere Punjab has made a decisive push forward. We have brought three new universities to the state. In addition, the iconic ISB at Mohali and the IIT at Ropar are set to embellish the academic and professional education horizon of the state. We have recruited over 45,000 fresh teachers in various disciplines.
Health has been the other key sector for us. As a part of upgradation and modernisation of medical education and research, Rs.197 crore has been spent on Govt. Medical College, Amritsar, Rs.100 crore on Baba Farid University of Health Sciences at Faridkot and its constituent college, Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, and Rs.101 crore on Rajindra Medical College, Patiala.
Guru Ravi Dass Ayurveda University is also being set up at Hoshiarpur. As many 135 Professors, Associated Professors and Assistant Professors, besides 101 Senior Residents and Junior Residents and 748 nursing and other paramedical staff have been recruited in medical colleges.
Fully-equipped cancer diagnostic and treatment centres at Amritsar , Faridkot, Patiala and Bathinda are being set up to effectively tackle the growing menace of cancer. A plan of Rs 346 crore for the upgradation of infrastructure and equipment in hospitals to provide medical and health care facilities to the people is under implementation.
Two super speciality hospitals are being set up in Public Private Partnership over government land in Mohali and Bathinda in collaboration with MAX Healthcare at a cost of Rs.300 crore. As many as 878 specialist and medical doctors, besides 3,835 paramedics, have been recruited in government hospitals Students suffering from heart diseases and cancer are being provided with free treatment at the PGI, Chandigarh, and other hospitals under the school health programme
An ambitious programme of Rs. 2,111 crore for the cleaning of the Satluj river (Rs.1,376 crore), the Beas (Rs.222 crore) and the Ghaggar (Rs. 513 crore) has been initiated to clean these rivers and make them pollution-free within a year. As a part of this programme all the cities and towns will be provided with the facilities of sewerage and safe drinking water by November 2011. Another major programme has been chalked out to construct rural latrines in villages at a cost of Rs. 2 crore.
I can proudly say that we have pushed Punjab into the next-gen infrastructure development era. Major initiatives have been taken to revamp the network of roads involving an investment of over Rs. 25,000 crore. Besides, the New Year will also witness the linking of every important city in the state with 4/6 lane roads, besides the completion of 33 ROBs / RUBs initiated at the cost of Rs. 7073 crore.
The strides made in the key area of civil aviation in Punjab are a matter of pride not only for our state and our government, but also for the country as a whole. Punjab attempts to soon become one of the few states in the country to have three international airports with the setting up of a new international civil air terminal at Mohali and another Rs. 17,000 crore Greenfield International Airport planned near Ludhiana. We already have one international airport at Sri Amritsar Sahib.
For the first time since Independence a concrete initiative has been taken for governance reforms to make day-to-day administration responsive, accountable and transparent. These reforms are aimed at eliminating various outdated and cumbersome procedures for which people had to face undue harassment in government offices. These governance reforms in terms of computerisation of land records and simplification of archaic revenue acts will not only be public friendly but also change the perception of the common man about the functioning of government offices.
The New Year will witness the commissioning of Rs. 20,000 crore Bathinda refinery. Besides, the dedication of five thermal plants being built at a combined cost of Rs. 62,000 crore will put Punjab state on a higher pedestal of growth apart from opening new vistas of employment for Punjabi youth through skill development initiatives.
We have recently come up with a new sports policy 2010 aimed at achieving excellence in sports and giving incentives to sportspersons, who win laurels for the state at the national as well as international level.
Our government has undertaken the construction of three world-class historic memorials at Chapparchiri (SAS Nagar), Kup Ruhira (Malerkotla) and Chhamb Kahnuwan (Gurdaspur) at a cost of Rs. 44 crore in commemoration of the victory of Sirhind by Baba Banda Singh Bahadur and in the memory of Chhotta and Wadda Ghallughara martyrs respectively to bring awareness about our rich legacy among the future generations.
Our aims are clear, our vision is focussed and our approach is firm and sure-footed. As the New Year 2011 dawns, let us pledge to make the coming year a year of complete transformation in terms of development, prosperity and progress. I wish you all a very happy and successful new year – and many, many more years ahead.

Development projects in punjab

The Punjab government is betting big on the completion of hospital projects as well as a slew of water supply and sewerage projects, modern jails, modern bus terminals and scores of railway over bridges and tourist complexes in 2011 to bolster its chances in the run-up to the Assembly elections, scheduled for early 2012.
Hospitals seem to be high on the government list for 2011 and a number of projects are likely to be completed next year. These include two super-speciality hospitals at Mohali and Bathinda. These hospitals, coming up at a cost of Rs 200 crore, are being undertaken by Max Health Care Private Limited and will come up on vacant land adjoining the existing Civil Hospitals at Mohali and Bathinda.
Two modern hospitals are being funded at Faridkot and Amritsar by Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB), its Managing Director, Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, told TNS. He said these projects, which would also be completed in 2011, would come up at a cost of Rs 150 crore.
Among other hospital projects is the 50-bedded multi- specialty hospital at Nangal, which will also come up in 2011 under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode at a cost of Rs 50 crore. The Mother and Child Care hospital, which is also coming up at a cost of Rs 50 crore at Fatehgarh Sahib, will also be completed and operationalised next year.
The Mohali bus terminal project, which has got delayed earlier, will also see part completion in 2011, according to Dr Sandhu. He said the bus terminal area would be completed next year. The Rs 300-crore project envisages a 10-storied building having a bus terminal on the ground floor and a helipad on the top floor. Besides, modern bus terminals will also come up at Sangrur, Kapurthala, Faridkot, Kharar and Zirakpur next year under the PPP mode.
Water supply and sewerage schemes are also limping towards completion. The PIDB head said these projects, worth Rs 600 crore, had been initiated in 56 towns located on the banks of important rivers in Punjab and that completion of the projects would result in cleaning of the rivers also. Dr Sandhu said in addition to this clean drinking water through reverse osmosis system in 500 villages had also been funded by the PIDB.
The PIDB has also funded modern jails at Kapurthala and Faridkot at a cost of Rs 200 crore. These projects are expected to be completed shortly. Other infrastructure projects in the pipeline include four laning along the Sidhwan canal in Ludhiana along with beautification of the canal at a cost of Rs 400 crore, polytechnics at Nanowal and Rahon at a cost of Rs 20 crore, institute of hotel management at Sirhind through the PPP mode at a cost of Rs 75 crore and bridges at a cost of Rs 320 crore in Ropar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Nawanshahr and Amritsar.

Expressing personal satisfaction over achievement of milestone mission of initiating governance reforms in all departments, Sukhbir said he would be the happiest person over the completion of total computerisation of land records that could not be completed by any government during last 63 years. He said that till date 79 Fard Kenders had been fully computerised and by March 31 next year land records in all 154 Fard Kenders would be put on web.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that establishment of Outreach Centres at each Police Station, Suwidha Centres in Urban Areas, 154 computerised Fard Kenders at the sub-tehsil level, 3116 E-Grams at village level, public friendly amendments in archaic Revenue Acts besides computerisation of DTO offices was set to change the perception of public regarding working of government offices.
Sukhbir said that the year 2011 would witness the completion of the Rs 20,000 crore Bathinda Refinery besides dedication of five thermal plants with a combined cost of Rs 62,000 crore that would put Punjab on a higher pedestal of growth besides opening new vistas of employment for the Punjabi youth. He said this year would also witness linking of every important city with 4/6 lane roads besides completion of 33 ROBs / RUBs initiated at the cost of Rs. 7073 crore